THE PASTERN. 



Fetlock. — The chief pouits about this joint are : that it 

 should be flat from side to side, and that, viewing the leo- in 

 profile, it should not (as I have previously remarked) be 

 broad as compared to the width of the leg just below the 

 knee {see PI. 47). Any roundness of the fetlock, which will 

 be caused by undue thickness from side to side of this 

 part, will betoken the effects of *' work," or of injury. The 

 peculiar roundness of fetlock, caused by sprain of the 

 suspensory ligament at its attachment to the sesamoid bones, 

 will be readily noticed by the practised observer. 



At the back of the fetlock there is a lock of hair which 

 gives its name ("feet-lock") to that joint, and which is par- 

 ticularly abundant in cart-horses. This tuft of hair covers 

 a fatty mass (the fetlock pad), and has in its centre a 

 horny growth, called the ergot. 



Pastern. — By the working of the fetlock and pastern 

 joints, the injurious effects, on the limbs, of concussion are 

 more or less obviated, and assistance is given in the straio-ht- 

 ening of the limb, to raise the forehand. As the horse will 

 have no difficulty, under ordinary conditions of soundness and 

 labour, in bringing his pastern into the same straight line as 

 his cannon-bone; the amount of "play" which the fetlock 

 will have, will depend on the distance through which the 

 fetlock can descend, or, in other words, on the acuteness of 

 the angle which the pastern can make with the ground, w^hen 

 weight is thrown on the part. Although we cannot, by mere 

 inspection of the animal, determine the efficient limit of this 

 angle, we may assume that horses which have, when standing 

 what are called sloping pasterns {sec PI. 43), will have more 

 play in these joints than those that have upright pasterns. 



